If Joe Biden can't find the compassion in his heart to stop supporting the killing of children and other civilians in Gaza, maybe his diminishing chances of re-election will persuade him.
We need a ceasefire now, and he has to endorse this.
We need to stop supplying Israel the money and weapons to continue with the genocide it is committing.
Just anecdotal and I know my one vote doesn’t matter (but I do live in Georgia so maybe?) but I will not be voting for Biden in 2024 due to his blind support of child murder.
It’s extraordinary that such an advanced military cannot find the enemy among the thousands slaughtered. When will it be enough? When will Israeli dead be avenged? Is it really justice to destroy an entire people?
It’s disgusting that we continue funding this atrocity. I have definitely been soured against Biden. It’s amazing what we can afford when it comes between caring for citizens and providing bullets and bombs.
Counterfactual: it was good, and worthy, for Obama to try to lower the amount of suffering of civilians in Iran by striking the Iran deal. In return, Netanyahu spoke in front of congress in March 2015 in a way that was a totally not subtle endorsement of Trump and his future envoy to Israel and son in law who actually funds settlements in the West Bank. So...did Netanyahu’s speech convince any voters to vote for Trump? Yes? Maybe?
Let’s say Biden openly criticizes Israel in harsher terms than he already has. Let’s say he points out that the West Bank policies helped to make the massacre of civilians by Hamas inevitable. Netanyahu is immediately invited to Congress and spreads as many lies as possible. Is this really worth it?
Instead, let’s imagine that Netenyahu is finally toppled in Israel. Biden can then make future support contingent on real peace talks, and if he withdraws it, there isn’t the threat that some venal piece of shit is going to come over here and harangue him about it.
I’m just not convinced that the loss of voters who really care about this conflict in New York, in California, in Chicago is really in any way proportional to the number of voters Biden has gained in the Midwest through his pro worker policies who don’t care at all about the conflict and won’t care about it as long as Republicans can’t continue to recruit Netanyahu to do their dirty work over here.
Hamilton, nowhere in this piece - which otherwise includes an excellent summary of Biden's record from a labor perspective - do I see a clear condemnation of the savage Hamas attack on Israeli civilians - including children. It's easy for those of us on the left to judge Israel's response as extreme - I would describe it as "taking the obvious bait" - but surely some measure of fairness is required.
The “upshot” of this piece unfairly oversimplifies the difficult international crises facing America. War is cruel always and the line between defensive and offensive operations blurs quickly. War is never “surgical.” It should always end and never happen. But laying all responsibility on Biden for the mess that is the Near East is profoundly childish and unhelpful.
if anything, Hamilton is again right. Biden is losing in 5 out of 7 swing states and his approval is at 39 percent. Inflation is soaring and I think its a bad look to be giving so much money to foreign wars when everyone in America is hurting. Credit card debt is at the highest level ever. How about Biden cuts Americans a $300 check or gives money again to parents? Why is this so hard? I did not vote today. First time I have not in 20 years. And I feel no regrets. This country is broken and the only hope we have are strong unions.
"Voters with the sort of genuine religious conviction that makes them value human life"? I was of the understanding that this sort of thing shouldn't be a rationale for policy.
I generally agree with you here, but I think that the Biden administration may be very much aware of the electoral risks and math in crafting his stance. I don't think they would be taking a huge gamble to assume that most American voters, a year out from now, will simply not care very much about dead children in a foreign land. We hardly show much concern about our dead children here at home, at least in any way that counts (with our votes).
Also, I'm going to be extremely, naively generous to Joe Biden here, and say that I think one factor behind his very public, unconditional stance supporting Israel here (and Netanyahu, who he knows from experience to be a snake), is a desire to deter regional expansion of the conflict. Outright attacks against Israel on other fronts could force the US military into an electorally-upopular fight with whichever Middle Eastern nations fancy dipping their toes in the bubbling bloodbath.
Biden's administration could be working behind the scenes to tone down the violence of Israel's campaign (not working), and he always has the option of withdrawing American support if things get out of hand (he can't, things have). Biden's priority has to be the big-picture, long-term security of the United States and its allies (though everybody in the Middle East hating us again probably makes the US and Israel less safe).
Actually, come to think of it, this is stupid and America is fucked next year. The worst thing for Biden's reelection odds is not, I think, his betting on the wrong horse; but rather his appearing ineffective and ignorable on the world stage.
Aloha🌺Hamilton, thank you for explaining the complex issue of Israel/Gaza/Hamas. I couldn’t really understand until you spell it out in no uncertain terms. And now it seems a logical conclusion that America MUST INSIST that Israel has to STOP attacking and killing families in Gaza!!! We reward them w/weaponry?!?!?! NO! NO DAMN HELP FROM USA to killing citizens!!! It’s a vicious cycle of murder. Israel kills people in GAZA, then Hamas kills people in ISRAEL and round and round it goes w/how many DEAD? Millions?!?! It has to STOP!!! And yes i surely don’t want insane tRump handing USA over to insane murderous Putin or any maga republican loyalist to madman crime boss.! And said 🍊MOB BOSS repeatedly calling for harm to American citizens. which we already have American citizens slaughtered in name of and in honor of a sick psychopathic narcissistic evil devil. tRump has stated that he doesn’t care about the future because “I’m not going to be around”. And it seems his maga loyalists have taken on his sentiment, Living for the now. and “burn it all down”. A cult leader calling for total destruction because he is insanely jealous of Putin’s capacity to murder all his enemies. This is the way we are headed And will certainly occur if a maga republican is elected as sick commander in chief because Biden doesn’t insist on cease fire and killing by Netanyahu’s murderous regime. Thank you for helping me/we understand what is at stake here. Mahalo so much.
I’m certainly not saying or doing anything to support the murder of citizens- but I would caution against taking in wholly unverified information.
I know reports of deaths are coming from a hamas controlled govt. I know the Biden administration has been doing the legwork of exercising diplomatic pressures and cautioning restraint in Israel’s approach.
I’ll believe the claims of genocide, when the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Economist reports on it.
Nothing Joe has done has been anything but a disaster. Declining real incomes, a needless and bloody war, another needless and bloody war, a third needless and bloody war waiting in the wings, and a senile and pathetic pathological liar, one who is clearly suffering from advanced dementia, in charge of it all.
It Would Be a Shame If You Sacrificed All This Good Domestic Policy In Order to Kill a Bunch of Kids
If Joe Biden can't find the compassion in his heart to stop supporting the killing of children and other civilians in Gaza, maybe his diminishing chances of re-election will persuade him.
We need a ceasefire now, and he has to endorse this.
We need to stop supplying Israel the money and weapons to continue with the genocide it is committing.
Just anecdotal and I know my one vote doesn’t matter (but I do live in Georgia so maybe?) but I will not be voting for Biden in 2024 due to his blind support of child murder.
It’s extraordinary that such an advanced military cannot find the enemy among the thousands slaughtered. When will it be enough? When will Israeli dead be avenged? Is it really justice to destroy an entire people?
It’s disgusting that we continue funding this atrocity. I have definitely been soured against Biden. It’s amazing what we can afford when it comes between caring for citizens and providing bullets and bombs.
Counterfactual: it was good, and worthy, for Obama to try to lower the amount of suffering of civilians in Iran by striking the Iran deal. In return, Netanyahu spoke in front of congress in March 2015 in a way that was a totally not subtle endorsement of Trump and his future envoy to Israel and son in law who actually funds settlements in the West Bank. So...did Netanyahu’s speech convince any voters to vote for Trump? Yes? Maybe?
Let’s say Biden openly criticizes Israel in harsher terms than he already has. Let’s say he points out that the West Bank policies helped to make the massacre of civilians by Hamas inevitable. Netanyahu is immediately invited to Congress and spreads as many lies as possible. Is this really worth it?
Instead, let’s imagine that Netenyahu is finally toppled in Israel. Biden can then make future support contingent on real peace talks, and if he withdraws it, there isn’t the threat that some venal piece of shit is going to come over here and harangue him about it.
I’m just not convinced that the loss of voters who really care about this conflict in New York, in California, in Chicago is really in any way proportional to the number of voters Biden has gained in the Midwest through his pro worker policies who don’t care at all about the conflict and won’t care about it as long as Republicans can’t continue to recruit Netanyahu to do their dirty work over here.
Hamilton, nowhere in this piece - which otherwise includes an excellent summary of Biden's record from a labor perspective - do I see a clear condemnation of the savage Hamas attack on Israeli civilians - including children. It's easy for those of us on the left to judge Israel's response as extreme - I would describe it as "taking the obvious bait" - but surely some measure of fairness is required.
The “upshot” of this piece unfairly oversimplifies the difficult international crises facing America. War is cruel always and the line between defensive and offensive operations blurs quickly. War is never “surgical.” It should always end and never happen. But laying all responsibility on Biden for the mess that is the Near East is profoundly childish and unhelpful.
if anything, Hamilton is again right. Biden is losing in 5 out of 7 swing states and his approval is at 39 percent. Inflation is soaring and I think its a bad look to be giving so much money to foreign wars when everyone in America is hurting. Credit card debt is at the highest level ever. How about Biden cuts Americans a $300 check or gives money again to parents? Why is this so hard? I did not vote today. First time I have not in 20 years. And I feel no regrets. This country is broken and the only hope we have are strong unions.
"Voters with the sort of genuine religious conviction that makes them value human life"? I was of the understanding that this sort of thing shouldn't be a rationale for policy.
I generally agree with you here, but I think that the Biden administration may be very much aware of the electoral risks and math in crafting his stance. I don't think they would be taking a huge gamble to assume that most American voters, a year out from now, will simply not care very much about dead children in a foreign land. We hardly show much concern about our dead children here at home, at least in any way that counts (with our votes).
Also, I'm going to be extremely, naively generous to Joe Biden here, and say that I think one factor behind his very public, unconditional stance supporting Israel here (and Netanyahu, who he knows from experience to be a snake), is a desire to deter regional expansion of the conflict. Outright attacks against Israel on other fronts could force the US military into an electorally-upopular fight with whichever Middle Eastern nations fancy dipping their toes in the bubbling bloodbath.
Biden's administration could be working behind the scenes to tone down the violence of Israel's campaign (not working), and he always has the option of withdrawing American support if things get out of hand (he can't, things have). Biden's priority has to be the big-picture, long-term security of the United States and its allies (though everybody in the Middle East hating us again probably makes the US and Israel less safe).
Actually, come to think of it, this is stupid and America is fucked next year. The worst thing for Biden's reelection odds is not, I think, his betting on the wrong horse; but rather his appearing ineffective and ignorable on the world stage.
“the world rallied in sympathy after civilians were killed in a bloody and unexpected act“
Nope
Real shame here is you insisting that insulting tokens are “good domestic policy”
Aloha🌺Hamilton, thank you for explaining the complex issue of Israel/Gaza/Hamas. I couldn’t really understand until you spell it out in no uncertain terms. And now it seems a logical conclusion that America MUST INSIST that Israel has to STOP attacking and killing families in Gaza!!! We reward them w/weaponry?!?!?! NO! NO DAMN HELP FROM USA to killing citizens!!! It’s a vicious cycle of murder. Israel kills people in GAZA, then Hamas kills people in ISRAEL and round and round it goes w/how many DEAD? Millions?!?! It has to STOP!!! And yes i surely don’t want insane tRump handing USA over to insane murderous Putin or any maga republican loyalist to madman crime boss.! And said 🍊MOB BOSS repeatedly calling for harm to American citizens. which we already have American citizens slaughtered in name of and in honor of a sick psychopathic narcissistic evil devil. tRump has stated that he doesn’t care about the future because “I’m not going to be around”. And it seems his maga loyalists have taken on his sentiment, Living for the now. and “burn it all down”. A cult leader calling for total destruction because he is insanely jealous of Putin’s capacity to murder all his enemies. This is the way we are headed And will certainly occur if a maga republican is elected as sick commander in chief because Biden doesn’t insist on cease fire and killing by Netanyahu’s murderous regime. Thank you for helping me/we understand what is at stake here. Mahalo so much.
Another solid piece. Thank you for giving moral clarity to this issue once again.
I’m certainly not saying or doing anything to support the murder of citizens- but I would caution against taking in wholly unverified information.
I know reports of deaths are coming from a hamas controlled govt. I know the Biden administration has been doing the legwork of exercising diplomatic pressures and cautioning restraint in Israel’s approach.
I’ll believe the claims of genocide, when the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Economist reports on it.
Nothing Joe has done has been anything but a disaster. Declining real incomes, a needless and bloody war, another needless and bloody war, a third needless and bloody war waiting in the wings, and a senile and pathetic pathological liar, one who is clearly suffering from advanced dementia, in charge of it all.
There are a few now that are calling for a ceasefire...
https://bush.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-bush-tlaib-carson-lee-ramirez-lead-colleagues-in-call-for-immediate-ceasefire